Dear ones,
Upfront: I grieve the loss of life in Israel and Palestine. I believe the elder Romanian Jewish woman I met this week who said that the news sparked something in her body, something old; I honor her pain when she said she felt sick, that she could hardly sleep. I believe that generational trauma can work like this—that regardless of the fact that the struggle in Palestine is not about antisemitism, that of course a mass death might feel like that anyway. And of course I grieve for the lives of Palestinians who, for decades, have regularly experienced catastrophes on similar scales. I grieve their lives, their homes, I grieve the way that colonization and oppression of every kind slowly chip away at anyone enduring it. I grieve that our media is actual bloodlust propaganda, I grieve when I hear “you’re either for Israel or for the terrorists” remembering where we heard that last time. I am scared and sad and enraged and discouraged.
I almost didn’t write about this at all — there is so much noise, and I am not a global politics analyst. But though I am not an expert, I am informed, and because I have a relatively varied readership, it might be worth sharing what I’ve learned from twenty years in community with people who devote their lives to this struggle. I write a lot about my early foray into radical organizing, always linking it to the movement against the Iraq War. With this as my entry point, it was impossible to get involved with organizing against US imperialism and not quickly learn about the history of Israel and Palestine through a very different lens than I had been taught by the mainstream media. 2003 was the year I started school in Chicago, it was the year I met Christian anarchists and anti-Zionist Jewish elders working together on boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns, and it was the year American activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer set to demolish Palestinian homes.
Shortly after, I started volunteering with Voices in the Wilderness (now called Voices for Creative Nonviolence), an organization founded by peace activist Kathy Kelly who is most known for her nonviolent direct action in opposition to both the US and Israel militaries. Kelly is an old hippie, whose own politicization, she says, resulted from working on a meatpacking line, hearing anti-Vietnam War speakers, and learning more about the Holocaust. One of my tasks while I was with Voices was to arrange a screening of The White Rose, a film about Jewish youth resistance in Nazi Germany. The people I met who were against fascism and antisemitism were always the same people who were in solidarity with the movement for a Free Palestine. In movement spaces, I learned about the struggle of oppressed people through an analysis of power, not politics.
It is okay if any of the following is true— the US works very hard to convince us of the narratives I’m about to share— so please don’t hear this as shaming, as judgmental, please hear it as a plea: If you think the “conflict” is about religion, please read more. If you think Israel has not slaughtered innocent Palestinian civilians for decades, please read more. If you think supporting Palestinian liberation is the same as supporting Hamas, please read more. If you think being critical of Israel is antisemitic, please please read more. This context matters—even when something horrific happens to Israelis (and again, I believe it was horrific)---the context of the Zionist project absolutely fucking matters. Ahistorical and context-free media coverage and governmental talking points are the surest path to unfathomable atrocities.
As I write this now, Israel is already obliterating Gaza under the guise of “retaliation” (something Palestinian resistance is never granted, despite being victims to IDF violence every day). A disgusting letter from The New York Times editorial board suggested that Hamas tried to “destroy the tranquility of daily life.” I cannot think of a more delusional, racist sentiment. This suggests that Gaza, which even the UN has called “an open air prison,” either has the experience of tranquil daily life (a blatant lie) or, more likely, that the editorial board thinks Israel deserves tranquil daily life and Palestine doesn’t. We are entering levels of propaganda that will rival Vietnam and Iraq.
My experience with the anti-war movement in the early 00s did not provide me with a lot of hope that we can make much of a dent in the project of empire. But I did write this piece, reflecting on 20 years since the war began, to highlight some of things that worked better than others. Mostly it was the stuff that got in the way of the machinery of war. When I’m feeling optimistic I think education and knowledge-sharing matters too, if for no other reason than it might reduce some emotional and energetic harm that Muslims are likely to be subject to in the midst of this. Would if we could all throw wrenches in the gears of tanks, but since we can’t, it’s worth it, I think, to poke holes in the fabric of dehumanizing narratives.
I don’t know if this is a dent or if it’s a self-indulgent white US radical thought exercise or if it will feel helpful in processing this for you and yours, but here it is. And here’s a place that seems to be legit, if you’re looking for a place to donate.
I dream of peace, but I know, as Kwame Ture explained so clearly, that liberation has to come first. May we fight and heal for a world where there is both.
I love you. Extra love and solidarity to my Palestinian and Jewish friends, comrades, and readers.
Links below are unrelated to the news of the week. Take good care.
love & solidarity,
raechel
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